As healthcare complexity has increased, so too has demand for specialist nurses. These highly skilled nurses provide advanced care, lead research, and mentor peers to help remedy Australia’s nursing shortages.
As the Australian population’s needs diversify, nurses are increasingly working outside the traditional hospital setting by delivering community-based and chronic care. That trend has affected the way nurses learn, apply evidence-based care, and shape patient outcomes.
With the shortage of nurse specialists identified as a major area of concern, the National Nursing Workforce Strategy is calling for a professional development framework to both help upskill nurses and enhance nurses’ clinical and research career pathways. Nurse leaders have a critical role to play in both.
Changing face of nursing
Once associated mainly with acute care in hospitals, nurses have become embedded across the healthcare continuum, including in:
- Community health centres by delivering preventive services and chronic disease support
- Home care by supporting postoperative recovery, care of older and infirm patients, and palliative care
- Schools by promote student health and well-being and responding to students’ physical and emotional health needs
- Aged-care facilities by filling the growing demand for expertise in geriatrics
- Remote and rural clinics by leading care models that reach underserved populations.
Those changes are making healthcare more accessible, personal, and community-focused, but they are also putting increasing pressure on an already stretched workforce.
Tackling the skills shortage
Although Australia’s nursing workforce is the largest in healthcare, many specialities are experiencing acute shortages, including aged care, mental health, and chronic disease. The gaps are being driven by demographic shifts, an aging population, and rising rates of chronic illness such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
To deal with those complex issues, many nurses are training in areas beyond general practice. Their work ultimately includes:
- Supporting lifestyle interventions for patients with chronic conditions
- Providing early screening and education in community clinics
- Partnering with families and allied health teams to coordinate care
- Leading preventive health initiatives in high-risk communities.
Those expanding roles are helping patients to manage long-term conditions at home, reduce avoidable hospital admissions, and receive care more aligned with their daily lives.
Developing advanced practice levels
The move towards specialisation and community-integrated care demands nurses’ continuous learning, critical thinking, and rapid application of new research.
Specialist nurses work at advanced practice levels, which the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) defines as incorporating professional leadership, education, research, and support of systems.
As noted in the Advanced Nursing Practice, Guidelines for the Australian Context, “while all RNs are expected to demonstrate a level of autonomous practice, critical thinking and decision-making and problem-solving skills, nurses working at an advanced practice level demonstrate these at a level that is beyond that of the RN workforce.”
To become specialists, registered nurses (RNs) in Australia must spend at least one year working full-time directly with patients to ensure they obtain the hands-on experience required to deliver evidence-based care.
Senior nurses provide critical support by mentoring their peers and helping junior colleagues turn academic knowledge into patient-centred practice, all while fostering a culture of inquiry and clinical excellence.
The NMBA also outlines the need for health practitioners to increase leadership capacity outside the clinical setting and across health services, including by engaging with communities and advocating for policy change.
Elevating patient-centred care
Nurse specialists are at the forefront of patient-centred care. Those engaged in chronic disease management, aged care, or palliative settings are usually the most consistent contacts for patients and their families. Their focus on a particular speciality enables them to:
- Develop customised care plans
- Monitor treatment closely for more timely adjustments
- Coordinate across multidisciplinary teams
- Provide emotional and psychosocial support.
By working closely with patients, nurse specialists not only build trust but also establish relationships that empower patients to take active roles in their own care. The combination of clinical excellence and compassion enables nurses to enhance the quality of the care they provide, as well as to deliver continuity of care.
Forging a healthier future
Nurse leaders are in a unique position to identify strengths and weaknesses and help RNs to develop the necessary skills for taking the next step, such as working in their areas of interest or studying in such specialities as acute care or infection control.
Although nurse leaders set the tone in the workplace, they cannot correct shortfalls without significant support. The National Nursing Workforce Strategy emphasises the need for state and federal governments, as well as the private sector, to invest in:
- Accessible education and professional development pathways
- Flexible funding models that support community-based roles
- Workplace environments that foster leadership and innovation and that bolster retention.
Nurse specialists are the keys to the delivery of patient-centred care across Australia. Their clinical expertise enables them to evaluate — and meet — patients’ needs both independently and in collaboration with other healthcare professionals. And their professional acumen sets an example for less-experienced RNs to follow.
With the right support and leadership, nurse specialists can deliver better health outcomes for all Australians.
Find out more about how Lippincott® Solutions can support nurses in Australia’s healthcare settings.
